Brick vents to Cobogó: history of use in Brazilian architecture and considerations regarding its adaptation to climate

• Autor(a) principal: Camacho, Darwin Onésimo Jaime
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Sacht, Helenice Maria, Vettorazzi, Egon
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: spa
• Título da fonte: PARC (Campinas)
• DOI: 10.20396/parc.v8i3.8650237
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/parc/article/view/8650237
• topic: Arquitectura. Eficiencia energetica; Cobogós. Brick vents. Natural ventilation. Energy efficiency.; Cobogós. Elementos perforados. Ventilación natural. Eficiencia energética.

In the last decades, due to climate change, and to energy shortages, researchers in the architecture and civil engineering areas try to find alternatives and passive strategies to mitigate these effects and establish a relationship between architecture and the climate. In this context, hollow elements (brick vents), called Cobogó in Brazil are an architectural element that can be used to minimize adverse climatic conditions, and it can provide permanent natural ventilation, sun protection, and daylight. Based on this aspect, a bibliographic review is presented about the origin, evolution, and importance of the hollow elements (brick vents), (cobogós) and some aspects that relate it as an architectural element that assists in adaptation to climate, influencing on the conditions of environmental comfort and energy efficiency. A bibliographic-documentary research method was used, using a search engine in academic databases. Documents in Spanish, Portuguese and English, published from 2014 to 2016, were analyzed. Posteriorly, Gauss Theorem was applied and, finally, the titles and abstracts of the most relevant documents on the subject were examined. The importance of the brick vents on architecture and the need to carry out new research to evaluate the performance of the device, beyond the aesthetic approaches, were observed.